From becoming a Disney star to a pop star, Miley Cyrus is no ordinary actress. In 2006, when she claimed the lead role for Disney's Hannah Montana series, the daughter of country music icon Billy Ray Cyrus rose to fame.
When Hannah Montana kicked off she was everywhere, across all media platforms. She appeared in a number of Disney movies and came out with chart-topping songs. Let's look back on Miley's often exciting and sometimes shocking career over the years.
15. Hannah Montana (March 2006)
She was deemed too young for the character when the 12-year-old Miley first auditioned for the title role of "Hannah Montana," on the Disney Channel, but that didn't deter her from pushing hard for the role.
As per Disney Channel Executive Vice President Gary Marsh, for her enthusiastic and vibrant performance, Miley Cyrus was picked for the show and was seen as a girl who "loves every minute of life," with Hilary Duff's "everyday relatability" and Shania Twain's stage presence.
Cyrus began acting as the main character Miley Stewart in Hannah Montana, whose alter ego is Hannah Montana, the pop music sensation. As Hannah Montana for albums and concerts, Cyrus also acts in character.
14. Best of Both Worlds and Hannah Montana OST (2006)
"Best of Both Worlds” is a song performed on the Disney Channel series Hannah Montana by Miley Cyrus as Hannah Montana, her character. It is also the show's official theme song.
The soundtrack for the Disney Channel's original series of the same name is Hannah Montana. It was released by Walt Disney Records on October 24, 2006. Cyrus performs the first eight songs on the album as her Hannah Montana persona.
13. DisneyMania 5 (March 2007)
The fifth installment of the DisneyMania series is DisneyMania 5. The album includes stars from Musical High School and Musical High School: The Concert.
The album features other Disney-related stars as well. For this edition, Cyrus recorded a remake version of a classic Disney song "Part of Your World.”
With sales of 44,000 copies, the album debuted on the Billboard 200 at 14, the highest debut to date for a Disneymania album. Since then, it has sold 293,000 + units.
12. Early Cameo Roles and Hannah Montana
In High School Musical 2, Cyrus had a cameo role identified as "girl at pool." Cyrus also guest-starred on the Disney Channel's The Emperor's New School as Yatta.
In the 2008 computer-animated film, Bolt, Cyrus played Penny's voice.
She also appeared in a spin-off film of Hannah Montana, titled Hannah Montana: The Movie, which was released on April 10, 2009.
11. Hannah Montana 2/Meet Miley Cyrus (June 2007)
The second soundtrack from the Disney Channel original series Hannah Montana and the debut solo album by Cyrus is Hannah Montana 2/Meet Miley Cyrus.
It is a new "hybrid" album, the follow-up to the 2006 success of the triple-platinum selling Hannah Montana.
It ranked in the U.S. at number one on the Billboard 200 in its first week of distribution, with 326,000 album units sold.
10. Miley and Mandy Show (February 2008)
Cyrus and her friend Mandy Jiroux (who is also a backup dancer for Cyrus) started to make videos on YouTube called The Miley and Mandy Show in February 2008.
The show, labeled as a "YouTube hit," with Cyrus and Jiroux editing the footage together, is said to be recorded for enjoyment by Cyrus and Jiroux and to be solely their project. It is mainly shot in the bedroom of Cyrus.
Miley and Mandy play, dance, sing, read magazines, act utterly dumb, and laugh all the time. They groove to "Feedback" by Janet Jackson and Miley admits that Nick Jonas is "irresistible."
9. Breakout and 7 Things (July 2008)
Breakout is her second studio album and was released by Cyrus under her own name. Cyrus stated Breakout was prompted by "what's been going on in my life in the past year." On the album, Cyrus co-wrote all but two tracks.
"7 Things" was the first single from Breakout to be released. The song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 84. It rose 60 spots from number 70 to number nine, after two weeks of release.
8. The Climb (February 2009)
"The Climb" is Hannah Montana: This was the first single from the soundtrack of the movie by the same name. The album has charted on the Billboard Pop 100 chart as of February 2009.
For the chart week of March 14, 2009, the single debuted at 48 on the Hot Country Songs chart. A week later the song was at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, earning Cyrus her third top-ten U.S. single.
7. Can't Be Tamed (2010)
Can't Be Tamed is her third studio album, released by Hollywood Records on June 18, 2010. After signing with RCA Records in 2013, it would become her last album with the label.
Can't Be Tamed is a musical divergence from her previous work, which she had grown to feel uninspired by. It is described by Cyrus as a 'good [record] to blast in your car.'
In the sense of romantic relationships, its lyrical themes generally revolve around breaking free of restrictions and standards, which are mostly mentioned.
6. We Can't Stop (June 2013)
'We Can't Stop' is a song from Bangerz, her fourth studio album. It was released as the album's lead single. It is a pop, R&B, and dance song that speaks about the use of recreational drugs and a house party.
Although music critics appreciated its production and originality as a whole, they were ambivalent toward its lyrical content.
It hit number two in the U.S. Hot 100 Billboard and matched "Party in the U.S.A." (2009) at the time as her highest-peaking single in the country.
5. Wrecking Ball (August 2013)
"Wrecking Ball" is a song from Bangerz, her fourth studio album. It is a pop ballad that lyrically addresses the breakdown of a relationship; it was believed to have been inspired by Cyrus' former fiancé Liam Hemsworth according to Bonnie Fuller of The Huffington Post.
It earned generally positive reviews from music critics, who praised its overall production and lyrical content.
Some critics, however, doubted whether the emotional execution of Cyrus was sincere because she had recently created controversies surrounding her publicly sexual image.
4. Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz (2015)
Before Bangerz was released, Cyrus started planning the project in 2013. Work continued in 2014 and 2015 when she made friends with the Flaming Lips and started to collaborate.
The fifth studio album was mainly written and produced by Cyrus and has been referred to as experimental and psychedelic. It has psychedelic pop, psychedelic rock, and alternative pop aspects.
3. The Voice and Younger Now (2016-2017)
During the tenth season of the reality singing competition The Voice, she was a key advisor. For the 11th season of The Voice, Cyrus stepped on as a coach in March as a substitute for Gwen Stefani; Cyrus became the youngest coach to star in any version of the series.
Cyrus released 'Malibu' as the lead single from her sixth album, Younger Now, on May 11, 2017. The song debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 64 and peaked in its second week at No. 10 on the chart.
In the thirteenth season of The Voice, Cyrus also returned as a coach after having a one-season break. Cyrus announced on October 5, 2017, that she will not be returning to The Voice for the fourteenth season.
2. Black Mirror and She Is Miley Cyrus (2018-2019)
Cyrus appeared in an episode of the Netflix science fiction series Black Mirror, "Rachel, Jack, and Ashley Too." She portrayed the fictional pop star Ashley O in the episode and provided the voice for Ashley Too, her AI doll extension.
Cyrus tweeted on May 31, 2019, that her supposed seventh studio album, She Is Miley Cyrus, will be released, and it consists of three six-song EPs that would be unveiled well before full-length album: She Is Coming on May 31, She Is Here in the summer, and She Is Everything in the fall.
1. Plastic Hearts (2020-present)
The album was initially scheduled to be released in 2019 as She Is Miley Cyrus, but Liam Hemsworth's divorce from Cyrus, vocal cord surgery, her grandmother's death, and the COVID-19 pandemic posed major delays.
On October 22, 2020, via Instagram, Cyrus revealed that Plastic Hearts, her seventh studio album would be released on November 27, 2020.
She released "Prisoner" alongside the music video, the second single from the studio album featuring Dua Lipa.
Conclusion
The then-13-year-old Cyrus became a household name for her lead role as a normal girl living a double life as a pop star on the Disney Channel's Hannah Montana.
But Miley Cyrus is certainly no longer a novice, with seven studio albums, three Grammy nominations, Billboard wins, dozens of international chart-topping hits, and one heck of an incredible career running under her belt.
